If you found this page after a storm, you already know what you're dealing with. Hail damage isn't a dent. It's hundreds of them, sometimes thousands, spread across every panel that was exposed. The repair process is longer, more involved, and almost always includes a body shop at some point.
This page explains what that actually looks like and where paintless dent repair fits into it.
Two cars parked in the same neighborhood during the same storm can come out completely different. Where the hail cores drop, which direction the wind is blowing, whether a car had partial cover, even the direction the car was facing, all of it changes what the damage looks like.
Coverage is what makes hail damage complicated. A single large dent on a clean panel is a different problem than a panel where there isn't a single spot you could lay your hand without touching damage. When coverage gets that dense, paintless dent repair isn't always the answer. At a certain point the panel gets replaced, not repaired.
Size matters too, but it compounds with coverage in ways that make it hard to give a number without seeing the car. A storm that produces small hail across every panel of a vehicle can be more destructive than one large dent in an accessible location.
Modern cars are built with different grades of metal across different panels. The hood and roof might both be steel but they aren't the same steel. A door skin and a fender on the same car can react completely differently to the same impact because the material is different. Aluminum panels need more finesse than steel, and cost more to repair as a result. Thinner panels show damage more easily and can be harder to bring back cleanly.
This is one of the reasons hail assessments take time. You can't look at a car from the outside and know how it's going to behave until you're in front of it with a dent light, panel by panel.
A serious hail job typically involves an insurance adjuster visiting more than once. Parts get ordered, some panels get replaced rather than repaired, and the car usually spends time at a body shop for paint on the panels that couldn't be saved. Meanwhile the owner needs a car, parts take time to arrive, and shop space fills up fast after a major storm.
The roof is usually a good PDR candidate because it's welded in and replacement is a much larger job. Doors and quarters with manageable coverage can often be brought back. PDR preserves the factory paint on every panel it touches.
The hood often gets replaced rather than repaired when the coverage is heavy enough that the repair labor doesn't make sense against the cost of a new panel. Fenders with severe damage may come off entirely and go to paint.
A hail repair is often a mix of both. PDR on the panels that can be brought back, replacement and paint on the ones that can't. That process requires coordination between the tech, the shop, the adjuster, and the customer. When it works it works well. When something falls through a crack, it shows.
I don't run a hail operation. I'm a mobile tech, which means I'm not set up to take a car in, store it, manage the insurance process, coordinate parts, and handle the full repair cycle the way a shop does.
What works well is coming in alongside a body shop that's already handling the car. The shop manages the insurance, orders the parts, handles the panels that need paint. I come in and do the dent repair on the panels that are good candidates for PDR. The shop gets to do the work they want to do. I do what I do best. The customer gets both done right.
For lighter hail with manageable coverage, there may be more flexibility depending on the situation. Text photos and I'll tell you honestly where it falls.
Text photos of the damage to 865-420-3368. I'll give you an honest read on what you're looking at, whether PDR is a realistic part of the solution, and what the right path forward looks like for your situation. If that involves a body shop I'll say so. If there's a way I can help directly I'll say that too.
A straight answer on whether PDR is part of the solution, and what the right next step looks like. No commitment required to get that answer.